32 I, o R D A N S O N ’ S V O Y A G E
them ; and by this time Pizarro and his companions in the great
..cabbin were capable of converfing aloud, through the cabbin win-
.dows and port-holes, with' thofe in the gun-room and between
decks, and from hence they learnt, that the Englijh. (whom they
principally fufpefted) were all fafe below, and had not intermeddled
.in this mutiny ; and by other particulars they .at laft difcovered, that
none were concerned in it but Orellana and his people. On this
Pizarro and the Officers rdfolved to attack them on the quarter-
.deck, before any of the difcontented on board fhould fo far reco-
.ver their firft furprize, as to refleft on the facility and certainty of
feizing the (hip by a junffion with the Indians in the prefent emergency.
With this .view Pizarro got together what arms were in
the cabbin, and diftributed them to thofe who were with him :
hut there were no other fire-arms to be met with but piftols, and
for thefe they had neither powder nor ball. However, having now
fettled a correfpondence with the gun-room, they lowered down a
bucket out o f the cabbin-window, into which the gunner, out of
one of the gun-room ports, put a quantity of piftol cartridges.
When they had thus procured ammunition, and had loaded their
piftols, they fet the cabbin-door partly open, and fired feveral Ihot
amongft the Indians on the quarter-deck, though at firft without
effect: but at laft Mindinuetta, whom we have often mentioned, had
the good fortune to fhoot Orellana dead on the fpot; on which his
faithful companions, abandoning all thoughts o f farther refiftance,
inftantly leaped into the fea, where they every man perifhed. Thus
was this infurreflion quelled, and the pollcflion of the quarter-
deck regained, after it had been full twd hours in the power o f this
great and daring Chief, and his gallant unhappy countrymen.
Pizarro, having efcaped this imminent peril, fleered for Europe,
and arrived fafe on the coaft o f Gallicia in the beginning o f the year
1746, after having been abfent between four and five years, and
having, by tiis attendance on our expedition, diminifhed the naval
power of Spain by above three thoufand hands (the flower of their
bailors) and by .four ponfiderable fhips of war and a Petache. Fur
we
R O U N D T H E W O R L D. 33
we have feen, that the Hermiona foundered at fea; the Guipufcoa
was ftranded, and funk on the coaft of Brazil-, the St. EJlevan
was condemned and broke up in the niter o f P la te; and the E f-
peranza, being left in the South-Seas, is doubtlefs by this time incapable
of returning to Spain, So that the -rfjta only, with lefs
than one hundred hands, may be .regarded as all .the remains o f
that fquadron, with which Pizarro firft put to fea. , And whoever
confiders the very large proportion, which this fquadron bore
to the whole navy of Spain, will, I believe, confefs, that, had our
undertaking been attended with no other advantages than that o f
ruining fo great a part of the fea-force of fo dangerous an enemy,
this alone would be a fufficient equivalent for our equipment, and
an incpnteftable proof of the fervice, which the Nation has thence
received. Having thus concluded this fummary of Pizarro s adventures,
I fhall now return again to the narration of our own
tranfaclions.
F CHAP.